Donatella
We went to Donatella to see and taste pizza from their famous oven. The oven is the centerpiece of the restaurant. It was constructed piece by piece with materials shipped from Italy (890 pieces including dozens of volcanic-soil mud bricks and bags of Neapolitan sand and cement). The flashy gold tiles on the outside are purely for aesthetics. The wood burning oven gets hot, 700 degrees to be exact, to “create a pizza that is both soft in the middle and crispy on the ends, in the authentic Neapolitan tradition (Donatella Menu).”
We opted to do a family style meal so we could try the many specialty items on the menu.
We started the meal with bruchetta with sea salt. At $4, it is the best deal on the menu. Esentially, it is a pizza without the cheese and sauce. It was a prime example of how the oven works. It came out right away because it was cooked in less than a minute in the oven. I loved the crispy, burnt parts, which were a perfect complement to the soft parts. We almost ordered another.
The salad, mesculin with candied walnuts was composed organic mixed greens, pecorino, and this really tangy lemon dressing. It was served on a cold plate, which a nice touch. The menu said the greens were from Blooming Hill Farm, so I looked up why Blooming Hill farm is special. Blooming Hill Farm is in Blooming Grove, NY. It Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm. “CSA members make a commitment to support the farm by purchasing a share, and the farmer, through their support, plans his growing season based on the resources from the local community(http://www.bloominghillfarm.com/csa.php ).” There’s a long list of restaurants that support the farm and its products. http://www.bloominghillfarm.com/customers.php. Ok, enough about the lettuce.
Other entrées we enjoyed included the MARGHERITA pizza with san marzano tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, pecorino, basil. The sauce was sweet. While it was a good pizza, all the ingredients made the middle soggy. Try the bruchetta to get a true appreciation for the oven/pizza crust.
The roast of the day was a large pork chop on top of creamy polenta with a rich mushroom sauce. It was juicy.
Another highlight was the PACCHERI ALLA GENOVESE with braised beef & sweet onion sugo, parmigiano reggiano. The fresh Paccheri (or Oversized Rigatoni) were cooked al dente. The sauce was sweet and rich. Excellent dish.
All in all, everything came together, for a lovely meal. We arrived at 8 pm for a relatively quiet start to the meal. By the time we left at 9 pm, the crowd picked up significantly. The crowd was young. Lots of big groups. A perfect place to start out a night out with friends.
Rating:
Food – 8/10
Ambiance – 8/10
Service – 7/10
Category:
Food Type – Italian
Style – Casual
Price – Moderate
Wanna go?
Address/phone –
184 8th Ave.
NEW YORK, NY 10011
BTN 19th & 20th
PH: 212.493.5150
Web – http://donatellanyc.com/
Il Buco
Il Buco is ”First class farm-to-table Italian in a rustic setting.” You can walk one block down the street to Gemma and enjoy Italian in a similar setting. The difference between Il Buco and Gemma is authenticity. Smaller Il Buco started from the ground up and has a history to back up its rustic look and feel. Gemma, much like the connected Bowery Hotel, appears to be constructed to look authentic, much like the Italian restaurants in a newly constructed hotel in Las Vegas. You may get good food at the significantly larger Gemma, but for me, there is something more authentic about Il Buco which is what dining is all about in NYC.
With a little digging on the internet, my appreciation of Il Buco and what the owners achieved increased. Upon entering the dining room, you are immediately transformed from the big city to an intimate dining room with clever lighting fixtures, brass pots, butcher block tables, and fresh flowers. In a city where restaurants come and go, Il Buco has withstood the test of time. Founded in 1994, Il Buco didn’t start as a restaurant…it evolved into a restaurant from an antique shop! This explains the charming rustic decor. Here is an interesting passage on Il Buco’s history from ilbuco.com:
“It was a modern day trading post dedicated to the exchange of crafts and culture between the Old World and the New. Shoppers would often join them for their midday “pranzo” prepared in their tiny back kitchen. Soon they transformed the rustic antique store into a charming enoteca with an eclectic menu – part Italian, part Spanish, part invention, dedicated to local ingredients with a wine list made up of small boutique producers.”
As I write the review the morning after dining, knowing this story makes me appreciate the menu and the dining experience even more. Il Buco was farm to table before the term was coined. Enough history… now to the food!
The menu had four pastas and four main course items. As you may have expected, the menu changes nightly based on what the chef gets from the farm that day. Upon first glance at the menu, I was convinced of my entrée. The Spanish mackerel with golden beets blood oranges segments, green olives, accompanied by a slice of lemon and a dollop of sour cream. The fish, which would be used for sushi more often if it were bigger, was simply prepared with just the right amount of light seasoning, maybe just salt and pepper. I loved how the salty fish and olives combined with the sweet beets and blood oranges to achieve that always appealing and ever popular “salty and sweet” juxtaposition. As someone who’s on a diet these days, I appreciated this healthy option. The rest of the table ordered and enjoyed creative and freshly prepared mushroom risotto, rigatoni with a chicken ragu, gnocci and chicken.
Top the food off with with an attentive servers who provide thoughtful recommendations and an excellent wine list, featuring small batches from unique purveyors and we have a winner. I highly recommend Il Buco.
Rating:
Food – 9/10
Ambiance – 10/10
Service – 9/10
Category:
Food Type – Italian
Style – Cozy
Price – Expensive
Wanna go?
Address/phone –47 Bond Street (between Lafayette & Bowery)
Web – http://ilbuco.com
Maialino
It wasn’t until people flocked away from NYC for Memorial day that I could get a reservation at Maialino, and the best time we could get was a 9:30 PM. There were several reasons why Maialino is so popular: Danny Meyer, Gramercy Park Hotel, Rockwell group decor…and most importantly, you guessed it, the food.
I had been intrigued by this restaurant long before I knew what it was. For some reason when heading downtown, cabbies always zig-zag through the city and always end up passing the Gramercy Park Hotel. As we pass the park, we look to the right to see the ground floor windows of the restaurant. I always thought to myself ” this is very nyc and I want to eat there.”
Upon entrance, the restaurant isn’t as trendy as I was expecting it to be from the outside view. According to the PR description, Maialino “captures the warmth and comfort of a traditional Roman trattoria, re-imagined for its contemporary setting.” It actually has an Otto vibe… A more expensive Otto vibe. With a large bar up front and different “stations” in the middle of the restaurant (not train stations like Otto, a salami station and a dessert station).
I was particularly impressed with how spread out the tables were for NYC and how good the acoustics were.
We were taken to our table and promptly presented menus. Maybe the style of the menu was designed to be like an old italian restaurant (like Pietros in midtown), with prices written in and a few lines to add new dishes…. My cynical self said this was a smart tactic to be able to up the prices without a new print run. Others will say this adds authenticity.
Since by the time we sat down for dinner it was 10 PM, our goal for the evening shifted from a full meal with appetizer, primi, secondi, and dessert, to trying that the waitress said were the “money plates” of the restaurant, two pasta dishes.
Before the “money plates” arrived, a fresh basket of bread and bread sticks was placed to the table. I would like to re-emphasize the freshness of the bread. It was one of those bread baskets that was worth eating. Fresh foccocia, fresh semolina. I wish they would have offered more before we were finished with the meal.
Onto the best part, the pasta! Tonnarelli Cacio e Pepe consisted of a spaghetti type pasta. It was covered in Pecorino cheese and has a powerful amount of black pepper. The cheese and olive oil coated the pasta to form a consistency that was different from the normal “smooth” sauces I am used to.
The Lasagna al Forno consisted of spinach pasta & bolognese. Looking back, I wanted to take a picture of how the house made spinach pasta was delicately layered, piece by piece over the beef bolognese, but the pasta was gone before I had a chance to take a picture (oops). It was very flavorful… The consistency of the pasta was perfect and the meat added just the right amount of contrast.
As I mentioned, Maialino is expensive, but, when all was said and done, we were out of one of NYC’s top new restaurants for under $75. Now, don’t get me wrong, that $75 went to two glasses of wine and several bites of pasta, but it was worth it. It is definitely a place I want to go back to to try again (if I can get a reservation at a decent hour)!
Rating:
Food – 9/10
Ambiance – 8/10
Service – 7/10
Category:
Food Type – Italian
Style – Casual
Price – Expensive
Address/ phone: 2 Lexington Ave, 212- 777-2410
Menu: maialinonyc.com/_pdf/trattoria.pdf
Opentable – opentable.com/maialino
Manganaro’s Hero Boy
It was a the special of the day and it immediately caught my eyes. This sandwich, unlike majority of sandwiches at Manganaro’s that were meat based, had vegetables offering color and a distinct taste.
It was composed of a large fresh semolina roll with sesame seeds. The kind of roll that is crunchy in the right places and soft in the right places. It was the kind of roll that held up when the pan jus was spooned onto the bread. Moving on from the roll … The broccoli rabe was very green – very fresh. The greens made me feel a little better about the light and tasty fried chicken cutlet and significant amount of fresh mozzarella cheese. To top it off, it came with house made potato chips.
My sandwich and the sandwiches that my colleagues were eating induced silence in the conversation at the table for a least a minute… Time was needed to take a big bite and enjoy. Conversation resumed soon thereafter.
It wasn’t until sipping my soda that I noticed that I was biting into history. According to the cup, Manginaro’s is the “originator of the 6 foot hero.”
I did some research on the Manganaro website… turns out, “In 1956, with his mother Nina, James Dell’Orto operated the Italian Groceria known as MANGANARO’s. James decided to take this one step further and got the brilliant idea of doing a hero sandwich that would be the first of its kind and called it the Six Foot HeroBoy.”
Manganaro’s is a highlight in the slowly up and coming Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood (just outside the Lincoln Tunnel).
Rating:
Food – 7/10
Ambiance – 7/10
Service – 7/10
Category:
Food Type – Italian Subs
Style – Casual
Price – Reasonable (you can get a $5 footlong for half the price, but it will be half the food with low quality ingredients)
Wanna go?
Address/phone- 494 9th Ave, 212-947-7325
website- manganarosheroboy.net
menu – manganarosheroboy.net/Menu5_1.html
Locanda Verde
I wanted to enjoy Locanda Verde more than I did. I had heard a lot of buzz about the place and when it came up as an option for a casual weekend lunch with friends while in Tribeca, we jumped on it. It is a cool setting in a cool neighborhood. The food, however, didn’t match the expectation for me.
My Broccoli Rabe Sausage Grinder with spicy peperonata and ricotta ($15) sounded better on the menu than it actually tasted. I can’t point out much that was wrong other than the greasiness of the sandwich. The bread and sausage were fresh and everything tasted fine but it just wasn’t one of those sandwiches that had me saying “I need to come back and order this sandwich!” Is that too much to ask for $15 for two pieces of sausage?
The Rustic Potatoes with garlic and parmigiano-reggiano ($6) were also quite greasy.
Drinks were good, especially this spiked lemonade with pear vodka. Perfectly refreshing for a summer day. Most recommended item on the menu.
I bet a pasta dinner would be a lot more memorable so maybe I’ll give it a try again for dinner.
Rating:
Food – 7/10
Ambiance – 8/10
Service – 7/10
Category:
Food Type – Italian
Style – Casual
Price – Moderate
Wanna go?
Address/phone –377 Greenwich St (corner of N.Moore and Greenwich) , 212-925-3797
website- locandaverdenyc.com
menu - menupages.com/restaurants/locanda-verde
99 Cent Fresh Pizza
For those who are curious, the 5th location of 99 Cent Fresh Pizza opened up in Murray Hill at 201 E 34th Between 2nd and 3rd. I recently had a chance to try their pizza, which rivals Celeste and Ellio’s. The place is totally not worth a review, but I did notice one thing that is worth mentioning. For $2.75, they offer a special that includes “battle” water and 2 slices of their crappy pizza…. It might be worth buying the pizza and throwing it out if the “battle water” will give you an edge in you next fight.
Macelleria
Having experienced many Italian restaurants in NYC, I typically say most in NYC are either really good or really bad. Macelleria is somewhere in the middle.
We enjoyed a well executed Italian meal with efficient service in a festive environment. Macelleria is the perfect place for a celebration – the crowd is young and the energy is high. The restaurant is next to several trendy clubs/nightspots.
A few nitpick items stand out as separates Macelleria from some of the higher rated establishments.
We started with pasta. I had the wild boar pappardelle. The pasta was piping hot and cooked perfectly but I thought the wild boar sauce tasted and looked like standard chuck meat. The waiter said it was cooked for over three hours but I didn’t get the special “wild boar” taste I’m used to from ordering the dish at other places. We shared the Prime Dry Aged New York Strip Steak as well as the Branzino – both were well done. They were both very flavorful.
The sides were nothing to write home about… the spinach was a little bitter from my friend’s perspective. The roasted potatoes were crunchy and crispy but I could have used a few more on the plate.
Dessert was good, but they tried to play off standard “food service” ice cream as gelato.
Rating:
Food – 7/10
Ambiance – 7/10
Service – 7/10
Category:
Food Type – Italian
Style – Casual
Price – Moderate (Meatpacking price inflation)
Wanna go?
Address/phone –
48 Gansevoort St | Btwn Greenwich & Washington St, 212-741-2555
website- macelleriarestaurant.com
menus – menupages.com/restaurants/macelleria
Open Table- opentable.com/macelleria
The Lemon Ice King of Corona
There is only one King and he’s from Queens. I have been enjoying the Lemon Ice King of Corona my entire life but the establishment has been around for twice as long as me (over 60 years).
This time I had the fresh tart and tangy and lemon ice featuring lemon rinds and other fresh ingredients. Perfect for a hot summer day or a a cooler than usual spring day (they have candy apples for the fall and winter). I am not loyal to lemon. In the past I have enjoyed many of their close to 40 flavors including pina colada, pineapple, tangerine, and strawberry. Sometimes, but not very often, I opt for their non-fruit flavors like black licorice, vanilla and coffee.
Tough they have lots of flavors, the rules are clear, there’s no mixing!
I may switch flavors but I always get the medium size ($2). Though I often want more ice, there is something about that size that works for me (I like to squeeze the ice from the bottom rather than scooping ice from a soda cup).
Ices are not a complete experience without going to the park across the street and watching local older Italian men play bocce while slurping away your ice.
Rating:
Food – 9/10
Ambiance – 9/10 (tradition)
Service – 8/10 (straight forward, they scoop ices)
Category:
Food Type – Italian Ices, Dessert
Style – Casual
Price – Reasonable
Wanna go?
Address/phone –
52-02 108th Street, Corona, NY 718-699-5133
website- thelemonicekingofcorona.com
La Carbonara
La Carbonara has it all. A great location, great ambiance, excellent food at really reasonable prices.
Traditional Oven-Baked Eggplant with tomato, mozzarella and basil was the highlight of our appetizers. Very light and flavorful. We also had fried calamari and Caesar salad.
The meal kicked up a notch when we got our entrees. The Rigatoni with lamb ragout was as good as it gets. The sauce was rich and filled with tender pieces of lamb and vegetables. It is clear that a lot of time and care went into the ragout. The dish was so good that I ordered another plate of it for the table to share after we finished dinner!
I sampled all the pastas around the table including short rib ravioli and Pappardelle Alla Bolognese and was equally impressed.
For dessert we had Zuccotto Al Gianduia semi-frozen cake stuffed with gianduja chocolate ice cream and amarena cherries. It was different and well executed.
They have a nice wine list. Service was friendly and efficient. Highly recommend.
Rating:
Food – 8/10
Ambiance – 7/10
Service – 7/10
Category:
Food Type – Italian
Style – Casual
Price – Reasonable
Wanna go?
Address/phone – 202 West 14th Street, New York, NY 10011, (212) 255-2060
De Santos Restaurant
Cute place. Perfect for date night or a group birthday. The ambiance is dark with exposed brick walls, candles, butterflies painted in some areas of the ceiling, a hanging taxidermy elk…. sounds eclectic, but it’s not. They offer simply prepared Italian at reasonable prices.
I started with grilled calamari with fennel and apples. Liked how the dressing was warm on the calamari side and chilled on the fennel side. Very fresh and flavorful. The pastas were great. We had the Trofiette with mixed mushrooms, spicy italian sausage, shallots and shaved parmigiano and Whole Wheat Papardelle with wild boar ragu. Both came out piping hot. The pasta was fresh, the ingredients were high quality. We enjoyed our meal with some nice reasonable Pinot Noir.
Rating:
Food – 7/10
Ambiance – 8/10
Service – 8/10
Category:
Food Type – Italian
Style – Casual
Price – Reasonable
Wanna go?
Address/phone – 139 W 10th St, New York, NY 10079, (212) 206-9229
website- http://desantosnyc.com
menus - http://www.menupages.com/restaurants/de-santos
reservations – http://www.opentable.com/de-santos-manhattan